Shards

chapter 38

Chapter 38:

I cheered, then quickly slapped a hand over my mouth. Audrey and Julian! They were free. They'd finally escaped, without Ian or I. But where were Dale and Kyle, and why would Shay ever want to escape? He was as robot as they came.

The fact that the Compound had sent their pictures to an organization like this meant that they were desperate to get them back. They'd done it, they'd really done it. Much to my surprise, their last known location was reported to be New York. I had to tell Sophia. We needed to go back and find them.

Before I left the building that night, I scraped the word 'liars' into the wall, using my knife. They needed to see what happened when they crossed me. Sophia and I took the redeye home that night. The entire flight I was preoccupied, trying to figure out how to contact my friends. My mother's FBI resources wouldn't help. They were hiding from the Compound after all. Though, maybe obvious was better.

As soon as I could convince Sophia to let me try, I bought a can of spray paint, and went to work. I had to make it as big as possible, and facing a main street to make it more likely that they saw it. After considering a variety of codes I decided that it was better to cut right to the chase. In huge, red, letters I wrote: “Jayls is free and in New York.” After all, who else in the world had the nickname Jayls? There was also no way this was a trick on the Compound's part. They were never this blunt.

A week later I found another piece of graffiti with both Audrey and Julian's names and an arrow. Naturally, I went in the opposite direction than what was indicated. They might have been playing the obvious game, but they weren't stupid. The backwards arrow lead me right to an alley where they were camping out. I introduced them to Sophia and we began our search for Ian.

Audrey explained to me that they had been transferred to another facility called Operations. Security had been much more lax, since the Compound officials seemed to expected that we would want to help. I didn't fully understand, but I hadn't been there. Audrey, Julian, and Audrey's new roommate attempted the escape. Dale and Kyle had been brought over in an earlier transfer. Emme had been caught in the escape attempt. Audrey was distressed at the loss of her new friend. She'd be shipped off to psy-ops, just as had been threatened.

If I believed in god, I would have thought he was on our side, because Ian found his way to us. In a late season blizzard his car swerved off the road, falling into a ditch. In the adrenaline rush that ensued his memories returned. Since he had no living family, he did exactly what I did; our thought processes forever identical. He flew to New York, searching for Sophia. I could only imagine his surprise and delight when he realized that three of us were already there.

Working with Chris and Sophia, the four of us devised a plan. The annual military and intelligence conference was just around the corner. Sophia was going to get us in, and we would attempt to find familiar faces. Then, at least, we would have names; targets. It would be like walking right into the belly of the beast, but we weren't scared. All our life, we'd tried to run away, now it was time to turn and fight.

Things went downhill quickly.

“See him?” Ian pointed to the center of the crowded room. “He look familiar?”

I followed his gaze, focusing in on the grey haired, suit clad man.

“Yes, of course.”

How could I have forgotten? He visited twice during my six years at the Compound. Both times the place was on lock down, his tour top priority. Ian and I always made sure to get a good look. Even as children we understood that if we wanted to burn our jail to the ground we were going to have to start at the top.